


Bravest Man I Ever Knew (The Two Volumes of One Book Remix)

by Mercurie



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Double Agents, First War with Voldemort, Gen, Irony, Remix, Wordcount: 100-1.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-19
Updated: 2015-04-19
Packaged: 2018-03-24 20:10:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3782701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mercurie/pseuds/Mercurie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If the Dark Lord finds out what Peter's doing right now, he's as good as dead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bravest Man I Ever Knew (The Two Volumes of One Book Remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bold_seer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bold_seer/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Two Volumes of One Book](https://archiveofourown.org/works/386498) by [bold_seer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bold_seer/pseuds/bold_seer). 



> A remix of bold_seer's drabble.

Peter hasn't been back to Hogwarts since they all left school last year. After the things he's seen in the world outside, the cheery calm of the Headmaster's office looks like an illustration in a children's book: nostalgic, not quite real. He wishes he could stay forever.

"If we hadn't shared a dormitory, they would never've been friends with me. I would've been a casualty. A victim."

A victim like so many others.

"Is that why you are here? Out of fear of your comrades?" Dumbledore's distracted sympathy never slips. It isn't fair. No one should be so unaffected. If Peter has to be ripped in two directions daily, the least Dumbledore could do is look a bit tired out by it all. 

"It's not just that," he stutters. "They've got worse. You remember what they were like, when we were students. Always egging each other on. They were better than their peers and they knew it."

Better than him. He'd watched with envy and admiration, then, when they hexed some unlucky sod from a rival house. But those hexes have grown far beyond nasty practical jokes now. The two of them are bad for each other. When they're together, they don't seem to know any limits. It's all got out of hand. It's all got so far beyond Peter Pettigrew. He hasn't got the nerve, not like they do.

Especially now they've fixated on Potter. They might pretend it's a strategic interest, but Peter knows it's really about Potter's Muggleborn girlfriend. It's personal, and personal means ugly.

"All this stuff about the Muggleborns. They really mean it. They're really with _him._ "

He doesn't say the name. People say _he_ can find you if you say _his_ name. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, they call him instead. The Dark Lord. If the Dark Lord finds out what Peter's doing right now, he's as good as dead. Or worse. Peter's sure _his_ crowd can think of worse. 

"Curious how events can leave us behind so quickly," Dumbledore murmurs, half to himself. "I'd expected different things from those two. Sirius and Severus, Slytherin's finest."

They'd been two best friends, like brothers. Sirius and Severus, Voldemort's finest now. Even thinking the name makes Peter wince.

"I'm not like them. Not good at things." He didn't get a single O.W.L. in his fifth year. Best not to even think of the N.E.W.T.s. "Not important to the Dark Lord. I'm just a foot soldier in the rebellion. They're the commanders. But I can be useful."

"We're often capable of more than we think, Peter."

Peter licks his lips. "But you'll protect me, won't you? From them, and from - him." He hates how it sounds. It's not exactly noble. But that's the truth: he's afraid of Voldemort and he's afraid of Sirius and Severus. The Dark Lord's rise has turned the world into a frightening place, and Peter doesn't like being frightened. And he gets frightened more easily than other people, so if Voldemort gets his way, where will that leave Peter? 

"I will do my utmost to protect you. You and everyone else. But I can do a lot more if I have people like you to help me."

Peter nods. If Voldemort wins, the world will be a frightening place forever. If Dumbledore wins... maybe things will go back to normal one day. 

"I know some things," he says. "I know a lot of things. They're calling themselves Death Eaters now. I know how they identify each other. I know their secret meeting place."

The hidden house in Grimmauld Place. He hates the gloomy old dustbin. He hates the house elf with his ghoulish enthusiasm for the Death Eater's work. He hates the Dark Creatures that pass through; he especially hates Sirius and Severus' new favorite, the sullen ex-Gryffindor werewolf who's almost shouldered him out of their confidences already. 

"Everything you know can help us," Dumbledore says. "But it's equally important to keep yourself safe, Peter. If Voldemort –" Peter flinches "– if Voldemort knows you're passing information to us, he'll do everything in his power to destroy you. Care must be taken."

If there's one thing Peter's good at, it's being careful. Keeping his head down. Hiding. 

"You're putting yourself at great risk," Dumbledore continues gently, watching him.

He knows. But he's half-afraid one of them will kill him anyway one of these days, just for being irritating. He's not a clever enough wizard and he's not a bold enough Death Eater. 

"I just can't go on with things," he says. "I just – can't."

So he opens his mouth and pours out everything he knows about Death Eaters, about Voldemort's plans. Names, dates, places, personalities, weapons, whispers, rumors. Dumbledore listens carefully, nodding along; and when Peter's done, it's his turn to receive a stream of information.

It's going to be a long, harsh haul, his life as a double agent. But it's better than what he's been doing for the last few years. He's relieved even while he's ashamed. Between the two of them, Sirius and Severus have brought almost all of House Slytherin over to Voldemort's side. And here's Peter, faithful lackey Peter, too weak to see it through, not ambitious enough to follow the course to its end. Not for the first time, he wonders if the Sorting Hat didn't put him in the wrong House after all. But he's proving right now he's not loyal enough for Hufflepuff and he's surely not clever enough for Ravenclaw.

And only a cruel prankster would ever have sorted him into Gryffindor.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] Two Volumes of One Book & Bravest Man I Ever Knew (The Two Volumes of One Book Remix)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6145681) by [sisi_rambles](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sisi_rambles/pseuds/sisi_rambles)




End file.
